Can You Say Destiny?
by Kaitie McDonahue
Summary: Scorpius's and Rose's oldest daughter, Mia, is growing up, along with her best friend Alex. This is their story. Companion to Infinitely Less, Obviously More, Realizations of A Malfoy, and You Jump, I Jump, Jack.
1. 1st Year, Sept 1

_September 1st, 1st year_

"Let's go here," Mia poked her head into a compartment and tossed her bag onto the seat.

Alex followed her in and plopped down across from her. "So, this is it," he grinned.

Mia giggled and pointed to her cheek. "Your mum left some lipstick on you."

Alex grimaced and rubbed his sweater over his right cheek to wipe away the residue of Martha's lipstick.

"At least it's on you and not Fred," Mia teased. She dodged to the side as Alex threw a copy of the Daily Prophet at her.

"Erm," a cough at the door to the compartment halted the teasing fight before it fully began.

Mia and Alex looked up to see a short boy with dozens of freckles and stubby brown hair. He looked around anxiously before giving the two of them a hopeful, quirked smile.

"Hi, I was wonderin' if I could sit here," he said. He shuffled inside and plopped down on the seat next to Alex with Mia's nod and smile.

"I'm Alex Carmichael and that's Mia Malfoy," Alex said. "We're first years."

"I'm Patrick Finnigan," the boy said. "I'm a first year, too."

"Finnigan?" Mia's head tilted to the side. "Are you related to Seamus Finnigan?"

"Yeah!" the little boy bounced up eagerly and smiled. "He's me grandda."

"He's married to my aunt Lily."

"I know Lily! She's my favorite aunt," Patrick nodded solemnly. "I don't like Aunt Elizabeth much," Patrick's nose wrinkled in dislike. "She's got a pole stuck up her ass all the time."

"Where're you from?" Alex asked, still wary of the newcomer. He didn't trust as easily as Mia. He thought it was a downfall of hers, often. But she just told him that it didn't matter if he was going to be there to balance it out.

"Belfast," Patrick said.

"Oh! D'you know the Quidditch team there? They've been doing well these past few weeks."

Mia watched as the boys launched in to a intense discussion about Quidditch. She liked it, but not to the extent these boys did. And then they went full-throttle into the football teams of England and Ireland.

The woman who pulled the trolley came by twenty minutes after Mia had joined into the conversation, arguing point-blank against the Cannons. No matter how much her grandpa Ron loved them, they were still in dead last for every tournament.

They talked the whole way to Hogwarts.

* * *

"Are ya nervous?" Patrick leaned over to whisper in Mia's ear.

"Nope," she replied. She shook her head, making the strawberry-blonde waves get a bit messier and fall behind her shoulders.

"I am," he said emphatically.

"Me, too," Alex whispered. "Does the Sorting Hat ever just, not sort someone?"

"'Course not," Mia scoffed. She stared up at her uncle Neville who was clearing his throat up at the top of the Great Hall, holding a long, yellowing scroll of names of the first years.

"Anderson, Geoffrey," Neville called.

A lanky boy with gangly hands and no control of his limbs clambered up to the stool. Neville set the hat down on Anderson's head.

"Ravenclaw!" it cried.

Anderson sank with relief before ambling over to the table clad in the blue and bronze ties.

Mia silently slid her hand into Alex's. She put on a brave face, but she was just as nervous as he and Patrick. She just didn't want to show it.

"Carmichael, Alex." Just like that, Alex's hand left Mia's and he climbed up to the Sorting Hat.

It barely touched his head before proclaiming him a Gryffindor.

Alex sent Mia a relieved grin before hopping down beside Claire, Teddy and Victoire's daughter, at the Gryffindor table.

Soon, too soon for Mia's liking, Finnigan, Patrick was called up and she was left all alone in a crowd of her fellow-first years.

He sat down next to Alex at the Gryffindor table, too.

_Gryffindor, please, please, let it be Gryffindor_, Mia silently begged.

"Malfoy, Hermia."

Mia's head jerked up at her name. Now or never. Her feet went one in front of the other and somehow, she was seated on the stool with the hat on her head.

Was she imaging it, or were people whispering? Fiercely? One was even pointing.

"Oh, a Slytherin for sure," someone muttered.

"No, don't you know? Her father was in Gryffindor. And her mother is a Weasley!"

"Oh yeah, my dad told me about that. The Weasley who got knocked up as a teenager."

Mia felt a fiery anger surge through her. How dare they judge her? Judge her mother and her father?

_Ah, a loyalty to your family, I see._

Mia jerked up. _Who's that?_

_ I'm the Sorting Hat, of course. Let's see, let's see…you are brave, no doubt about that. A little too confident and cocky for Hufflepuff. You are smart and witty, but academics are not your focus. You're too focused on the good and the bad, as seen just by your reaction to the gossip. Well, well, I have a decision._

"Gryffindor!"

* * *

**Review, please!**


	2. 1st year, Oct 15

_1st year, October 15th_

"Mia, I swear on Cuchulain's grave, that if you get me in another detention, I will hurt you so fiercely you'll never know what hit you," Patrick muttered murderously, scrubbing the stone trophy floor on his hands and knees.

"Who's Coo-hoo-lin?" Alex asked, looking up curiously from his spot by the door. He looked down grimaced at the grime coating the stones.

"Ancient Irish hero," Mia said. "It's been a month and you don't notice that Patrick always swears on Cuchulain's something? I asked him that ages ago."

"I was a bit more preoccupied with the fact that it's been a month, and you've managed to land us in eight detentions!" Alex snapped.

"That's not so bad," Mia argued.

"Not seein' how, from me position o'er here," Patrick said.

"Sometimes your accent is thick, other times not as much," Mia said.

"It's gets thicker when he gets angrier," Alex snorted.

Patrick glared at the two of them before returning to scrubbing the floor.

"What even made you decide that it'd be a good idea to steal worms from Herbology and put them in the meals?" Alex demanded.

"I only put them in one meal!" she cried.

"Yeah, Justin Nott's! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Patrick said. He threw his sponge at her, hitting her squarely in the face.

Mia did nothing. She didn't move, didn't speak, and she didn't refrain from glaring at Patrick, either.

"Why did you pick Nott?" Alex asked. His eyebrows were quirked and he was looking at her with that curiosity that Mia knew meant he was onto something.

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"Mia…" Patrick said.

"He said I was Death Eater scum," she whispered, head hung.

"That bastard!" Patrick declared. He scrambled to his feet and began to set off, presumably to beat Nott to a pulp, up until Alex pulled him back into the room.

"When?" Alex asked.

"A few days ago. I didn't know any hexes or anything, though, so I punched him," Mia admitted. "That's why I wasn't at dinner on Tuesday; I was in detention."

"He deserved it," Patrick said.

Mia shrugged. "He said my family was filled with Death Eaters. That we were no better than the dirt on the bottom of his shoes."

Mia sniffled and Patrick and Alex came and sat beside her. Alex wrapped an arm around her while Patrick stared helplessly and just a bit frightened. What was he supposed to do with a crying girl?

"How come you didn't get a teacher?" Alex asked.

Both Mia and Patrick looked up at him like he was the incarnation of Old Voldy, himself.

"You're kiddin', right?"

Alex swallowed and looked away.

"I wasn't going to just sit back and take it," Mia said. "He deserved what he got. I'm not going to take anything from anybody, ever again," she growled.

Alex and Patrick shared a nervous look over her head.

* * *

**Review, please! I know it's super short, I'm just kind of setting up their personalities, right now. This story will have snippets from different parts of Mia's life, mostly with Alex and Patrick. The rest of the Weasley-Malfoy-Carmichael-Finnegan family (families) will be involved, too.**


	3. 1st year, Dec 12, Over Christmas Break

_December 12th - Christmas Break, 1st year_

_Are you going home for break?_

Course. Where else would I go?

_I dunno. Just wanted to make sure. Mum and Fred are planning some big thing. They said they have a surprise._

Did they say what kind of surprise?

_Nope. Just that they had something to tell me._

Well, if it turns out to be awful, you can always come and stay at my house!

_It'll be so much more chaotic at your house._

Don't even try, you love the chaos.

_Yeah, I do._

Don't you ever wish you had siblings?

_I don't know if I want your two younger sisters and brother, though. One would probably be enough._

Please, like you don't love my family.

_Course I do. But Fred makes enough noise for at least half of your family, I think._

I love how your step-dad is Uncle Fred. It's like you're really part of the family!

_Ouch, I'm hurt. You didn't consider me part of the family before?_

Oh, you know I love you haha. But the professor's looking over this way again and I doubt it'd be good if we're caught. It's almost winter break and we have eighty detentions.

_I bet we've set a record._

Three sickles we didn't.

_You're on._

* * *

_Hey Mia,_

_Guess what their surprise was? My mum's pregnant...Not quite sure how I feel about that yet. They said it's going to be a girl. I'm going to have a baby sister._

_Anyways, I'll see you soon._

_Alex_

* * *

**_Review, please!_**


	4. 1st year, May and June

_May – June, 1st year_

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Malfoy,

Your daughter, Miss Hermia Jane Malfoy, was found out of bounds after hours last night in the Forbidden Forest. She has been reprimanded accordingly and will be serving detention with myself tomorrow night.

Sincerely,

Professor Neville Longbottom

Head of Gryffindor House

Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

P.S. – It really wasn't as bad as it sounds. I know you're both prone to overreact, Rose and Scorpius, so don't worry too much. She, Alex, and Patrick Finnigan just decided to explore a bit.

* * *

Dear Mr. Weasley & Mrs. Carmichael-Weasley,

Your son, Mr. Alexander Harrison Carmichael, was found out of bounds after hours last night in the Forbidden Forest. He has been reprimanded accordingly and will be serving detention with myself tomorrow night.

Sincerely,

Professor Neville Longbottom

Head of Gryffindor House

Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

P.S. – It really wasn't that bad, Fred and Martha. He, Mia, and Patrick Finnigan were just exploring. Fred, I had to write much worse letters home to your parents. Don't worry about it too much.

* * *

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Finnigan,

Your son, Mr. Patrick Seamus Finnigan, was found out of bounds after hours last night in the Forbidden Forest. He has been reprimanded accordingly and will be serving detention with myself tomorrow night.

Sincerely,

Professor Neville Longbottom

Head of Gryffindor House

Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

P.S. – Don't worry too much, Liam. Patrick was with Mia Malfoy and Alex Carmichael, his friends, as I'm sure he's written home about them, and they weren't too far in. Just wanted to go exploring, but they were getting near dangerous territory so it's discouraged in the future for obvious reasons.

* * *

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Malfoy,

Your daughter, Miss Hermia Jane Malfoy, has had over 50 detentions this year with me, over 90 including those she served with other teachers. She is easily provoked into physical violence by her peers and has been found to be disruptive during class when she gets bored. She will serve another detention with myself tomorrow afternoon, but if her behavior does not improve, a meeting will have to take place between Miss Malfoy, myself, and one of you.

Sincerely,

Professor Neville Longbottom

Head of Gryffindor House

Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

P.S. - It's not as bad as it sounds. People keep provoking Mia and she's doing the best she can, but it's not in her nature to take things lying down. Also, school just isn't challenging enough for her at the first year level. Though her actions are understandable, they really aren't acceptable. I know she knows better and some things are excusable, but my colleagues aren't going to excuse everything.

* * *

Mia.

Shape up or I'm going to go down there and ship you out myself.

Mum (and Dad).

* * *

"Oh, forget this!" Mia cried, tossing her Standard Book of Spells across the common room. "Who cares if I can levitate an object? How the hell is that going to help me in life?"

"Language," Alex muttered from his position in the arm chair across from Mia's seat, never lifting his eyes from the page of his astronomy textbook.

Patrick was dozing in the third chair in the corner that the three of them had claimed at the beginning of the year. It was cozy, near the fire, and there was a table which the three chairs surrounded that they'd plopped all of their belongings on top of.

"I don't want to do this work," Mia muttered. "I don't even care if I fail the Charms exam tomorrow. I just want summer to begin and school to end."

Alex glanced up from his book. "Feel like taking a break?" he said mildly. Mia didn't have to look over at him to know that his eyebrows were raised.

"So, what do you want to do?" Mia leaned forward, her weight balanced with her elbows on her knees.

Alex grinned. It was an old game they had been playing since they'd met each other way back when in preschool. They'd introduced it to Patrick, too, but Alex didn't think it was such a great idea to wake Patrick up. He tended to get violent if he didn't wake up on his own; besides, Alex didn't want to get near the puddle of drool on the armrest of the chair, growing slowly larger as Patrick slept on.

"I want to see the world," Alex said, leaning back in his chair.

"I want to swim with dolphins," Mia sighed wistfully, her sigh accompanied by the harmony of Patrick's soft snores.

"I want to speak Arabic."

"I want to go skydiving."

Alex made a moue of distaste. Mia giggled at him.

"I want to see America," Alex said.

"I want to grow up, and get away from here."

"I want to be happy," Alex admitted quietly. "Like my mum and Fred. Like your parents," he gestured towards Mia.

Mia's brow wrinkled. "I'd like that, too," she sighed. "Scoot over," she poked Alex until he gave up enough room in his chair for Mia to squish into. "If we aren't married by the time we're twenty-five-"

"-we marry each other," Alex finished. He gave her a smile. "I remember. I guess that wedding we had when we were four doesn't count then, huh?" he guffawed.

"Hey!" Mia cried. "It was a pretty wedding!"

"Mhmm," Alex said agreeably, "'course I wasn't expecting you to actually kiss me after. Or make Cassie perform the ceremony."

"My first kiss," Mia announced.

"I'd hope so. You were four, after all."

Mia laid her head down on Alex's shoulder. "Promise we'll always be best friends."

"I promise."

"Patrick, too."

Their only answer was Patrick's snores growing suddenly louder.

* * *

**Review, please! This is the last chapter from first year. Second year, coming up next!**


	5. 2nd year, March 11

_Second Year, March 11_

Mia watched as Professor Longbottom sighed. She wasn't supposed to call him Uncle Neville in school, but right then, she didn't think she'd be able to anyways.

He was seated behind his desk, worry lines etched on his face, his hair more gray than usual, and wearing a very disapproving face. She knew she'd caused that face. Mia slunk farther down in her seat, not daring to look over at Nott in the seat next to her. The Slytherin Head of House, Professor Merriweather, stood next to Uncle Neville's seat, behind his desk.

While Uncle Neville was silent, Merriweather most certainly was not.

"Muggle dueling! In the middle of the corridor!" he ranted, glaring only at Mia, not at his own student – who had thrown the first punch.

Mia crossed her arms and slumped in her seat, a look of indifference etched on her face. She was struggling to maintain the mask, but doing well enough judging by how much angrier Merriweather got whenever he looked at her. "You!" he pointed his finger at Mia. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Mia looked Nott up and down slowly. "My great-grandmother could beat him in a fight," she drawled and sneered at the repulsive boy. Considering Molly had won in a duel against Bellatrix Lestrange, of course she could.

Merriweather looked like he would like to hit Mia.

"Mia," Neville said in his warning voice.

Mia looked back at him and relaxed her mask for only an instant, so her uncle Neville could see the hurt she felt. She couldn't hold the hurt in with Uncle Neville, nor her grandpa or Uncle Harry, her dad, Uncle James, Uncle Al. Even her mum. There was something about her family that made her want to tell them everything. But not things that would hurt them.

"Miss Malfoy," Merriweather grit his teeth, "would you care to explain why you hit him before your punishment is doled out?"

"I was defending myself – he hit me first."

"Because you said I was a pathetic, low-life, scum-sucking sewer rat!"

"Only because you called me Death Eater scum again! And you called my family a bunch of blood traitors! No fucking way in hell were you going to get away with that!" Mia ignored the protests and demands of the professors as she stood up and made her way to lean over Nott. "The war is over, and has been for years. Get over your fucking prejudices or I'll make you see the world in a different light. You'll see it out of your arse cause I'm gonna shove your head-"

"Hermia Malfoy!" Uncle Neville thundered.

Mia stopped immediately. She turned slowly to look at her uncle, the color of his face hovering somewhere between red and purple.

"I think it'd be best if I were to speak to my student alone," Neville said to Merriweather. Merriweather nodded and told Nott to "Come along," then pulled him out of the office and began yelling at him in the hallway.

"Mia, what am I going to do with you?" Neville sat back down in his chair, exasperated. "I know you mean well, you're just defending yourself, but must you do so in such a physical manner? You don't have to hit him or issue bodily threats, use your words."

"My words do shit, Uncle Neville," Mia stated. "Though his family was part of Voldemort's followers, he still likes to insult me and mine. If I don't stand up for them, that _does _make me Death Eater scum," she explained in a small voice. She couldn't help but remember the assembly they'd had in the Great Hall at the end of her first year when someone had been caught cheating on their O.W.L.s. The headmaster had lectured the students on integrity. If Mia had any integrity, she had to fight for her family, for herself, not only for her pride. It was who she was. She had to do it.

She explained this to Neville.

He smiled a small smile to himself. "Just like your dad, you are. You know, Mia, doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, it's still doing something wrong."

Mia snorted. "There's a difference between what the government says is wrong and what actually is wrong."

"Your nana's been letting you in her library again, hasn't she?"

Mia nodded. She loved her Nana Hermione's library.

"Fine, just promise me, no more fist fights."

"No more fist fights with Nott, got it."

"No, Mia. No more fist fights, ever."

"With Nott."

"With Slytherins."

Mia debated this. "With Slytherins who don't provoke me."

"Mia, I am not compromising on this. You need to stop getting into brawls. This is the fourth one you've been in, only this year. Three times it's been with Nott."

"Yeah, and the other time it was Connor McGreary who insulted Patrick! It's not like I don't do it for a reason!"

Neville looked down at Mia, who was on the edge of her seat, gripping it tightly, eyes filled with passion for her causes: her family and friends. How could he tell her she couldn't fight for the people she loved?

"Just don't get caught."

Mia grinned.

Well, that was one way to do it, Neville thought. "Don't forget, you have a week's detentions to serve with me," he called to her while she practically skipped out of the room.

* * *

"What happened?" Alex asked when Mia got back to the common room.

"Week of detention."

"That's it?" Patrick cried. "What about Nott? He better have gotten suspended."

Mia shrugged and plopped down on the couch beside Alex, smudging his essay with her movement. He glared at her. "I dunno," she said, "but when Merriweather was yelling at him in the hall, I'm pretty sure I heard something about Hogwarts not tolerating insults about the Second War and – hopefully! - suspension."

"I can't believe you got off so easy," Alex shook his head. "You broke the guy's nose, gave him a black eye, split his lip, and he was limping. _And_ you barely have a black eye and a busted lip."

"Take a picture now, so in the future I can tell my kids how much of a rebel I was in school," Mia smirked, causing her lip to split again and start bleeding anew. "Aw, shit," she muttered.

* * *

Mia began avoiding fights. Instead, she took to convincing her Uncle Fred to give her Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products to use on people who were mean to her, and to her friends. It worked relatively well. Until, of course, someone riled her up enough to get her punch them. Nott's nose was bent so badly after being broken four times (twice by Mia, once by Alex, once by Patrick), he looked worse than Victor Krum at the end of his Quidditch career. Eventually, Mia learned to use her words to hurt those who hurt her, and had to learn another valuable lesson: sometimes the pen is mightier than the sword. Words hurt. Including those of Professor Merriweather, who never let her forget what she had done to Nott in second year. She dropped arithmancy the moment she finished her O.W.L.s, eager to avoid his cruel comments forever. But somethings he'd said stuck: maybe her younger siblings really were better than her.

* * *

**Review, please! And thank you so much to all the reviews I have received! It makes me so happy to see that people who have read my other stories are reading this one (and reviewing!).**


	6. 3rd year, April 20

_Third Year, April 20th_

Mia wandered into the library, careful to make as little noise as possible.

Uncle James had given her the Marauder's Map, but Claire had the Invisibility Cloak. People could still see her.

She just hoped Alex would be able to see her. He'd been disappearing lately. Saying he was going to study, but he wouldn't be anywhere she or Patrick could find him.

Mia tip-toed through the shelves in the library. If the librarian caught her, she'd have another detention. Which would mean eight detentions so far after Easter Break. It was only April 20th.

She found Alex half-asleep at the back of the library, surrounded by books, on the floor. He was leaning up against a shelf twenty feet tall, two feet away from the magically-propelled ladder that allowed students to get up to the top stacks of books. Mia'd caught Joseph Corner looking up her skirt when she'd used the ladder to reach the book on Polyjuice she'd needed. Unfortunately, it hadn't been for Potions class, which had earned her one of those eight detentions.

Mia had just been thankful she'd worn pretty knickers that day.

She crouched down next to Alex and shook his shoulder gently. His head flopped forward. Mia sighed, gave it up as a bad job, and sat down next to him. The title of the book in his lap caught her eye. "How to Remember the Un-Rememerable." She scoffed. That wasn't even a word. Then she looked even closer at the passage his hand slightly covered. Mia lifted his hand off the page.

"When attempting to remember things about people who have been very important in one's life, particularly parents, it is best to..."

Oh. The realization dawned on Mia. He was trying to remember his dad.

Sympathy for her best friend washed over her. Alex's dad had been killed in a convenience store shooting when he'd been only two. Except Mia had overheard her mum and Martha talking about what really had happened – he'd killed himself. Mia had never told Alex that.

But Alex had often told her that what he wished most was to remember him. Even though his mum, Martha, had married Mia's Uncle Fred four years ago, Alex wanted his dad, not a step-dad.

Mia ran a hand through Alex's hair, gently waking him up. For some reason, he always woke up when someone ran their hand through his hair. He loved that feeling, too. It calmed him down, made him relax, helped him fall asleep, and made him wake up when he was asleep.

Alex shifted slowly as his eyes fluttered open. "Wha-?"

"Hey," Mia said quietly.

"What time is it?" Alex yawned.

"After midnight."

Alex's head slumped back against the shelves. "Let's just sleep here, then."

Mia smiled to herself and leaned against the shelf next to him. "Whatcha reading?"

Alex scoffed, eyes still closed, body still slumped against the books. "Like you didn't look."

Mia was quiet for a few moments. "Did it work?"

Alex sighed and rubbed his eyes with his hands. "No. I couldn't remember anything." His face crumpled. "Why can't I remember anything?"

"I don't know." Mia shook her head. "I wish I could help."

Alex was silent for a few minutes. Mia could feel his body shaking as he tried to contain his sobs. Thirteen year old boys weren't supposed to cry. They were supposed to be strong, unfeeling, above everything that caused feelings.

Mia wrapped her arms around her best friend. "It's okay. Let it out."

Alex did. His tears began to soak Mia's shirt as she held him, rocked him like a baby, rubbed his back. She murmured, "It's okay, it's okay," over and over again, knowing that nothing she did, nothing she said, would make it okay.

Finally, Alex took three shuddering, heavy breaths and twisted slightly out of Mia's grasp, rubbing his eyes. "Sorry," he rasped.

"Don't be. What are best friends for?"

Alex attempted a grateful smile. It turned out more watery than anything else. "I just want to remember him. He was my dad. I should be able to remember. The only thing I do remember is Mum sobbing at his funeral. And a laugh. I don't even know if I'm making it up, but sometimes when I dream about him and mum, I hear this laugh. It's a man's laugh; it's loud and cheerful, verges on a Father Christmas kind of laugh."

Alex looked away from Mia, careful not to show her even more vulnerability. "I just wish I could hear him laugh."

Mia pulled him back into her so she could hug him. She had to hold him, try to make him feel just a little bit better. He let her hug him.

"One day," Mia murmured, "you'll figure out how to retrieve every memory anyone has ever had. You'll figure out how to get all the memories of your father back out of whatever deep crevasse of your brain they're hiding in."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

* * *

**I want to say thank you sooo much to all the people who have reviewed this story! I appreciate so much. Please keep reviewing! It always makes my day.**


	7. 4th year, Christmas Break

_4th year, Christmas Break_

"Psst."

Mia looked up. There was Claire Lupin, her cousin, handing her a drink.

"I already have one," she gestured to the cup in her hand half-filled with pumpkin juice. This was strange, usually her cousin wasn't so dense. Maybe Claire was just feeling suffocated with so many family members all crushed into the Burrow together. There were so many of them nowadays, there was barely any room to breathe. Even though they all gathered for every holiday and even every Sunday for lunch (there were only a few of them off at Hogwarts so those lunches contained most of the family) Mia wasn't sure she actually really knew all of her family.

Mia tilted her head and observed Claire further. Usually, Claire wasn't so giggly, either.

"Trust me, you want this one," Claire took Mia's glass out of her hand and deposited the other one in it.

Mia raised her eyebrows. "Am I going to wake up tomorrow and not remember anything because you ruphie-ed me?"

Claire laughed, a little too high and a little too tinkly for normal.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, fine, fine," she waved it off. She flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder; the tips turned momentarily blue. "Be sure to share it with Alex," she said as Alex came upon the two of them.

Claire shoved Alex over a bit after flicking her eyes upward towards the ceiling, and then practically danced over to Aunt Luna, before the two of them went downstairs to the rest of the family.

"What's up with her?" Alex asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mia wished she could raise only one eyebrow like Alex could. Cassie could do it, too. She frequently did it to Mia when Mia did something she didn't approve of.

"Who knows?" she shrugged and took a sip of the drink.

She nearly coughed it back out. "God, that's bitter. What is this?"

Alex laughed. "She gave you some of the punch."

"The punch?"

"The punch."

Mia stared before comprehension rose. "_Oh._ _The _punch." She stared back down at the glass and took another sip. It spluttered out of her mouth as the bitter flavor stung her tongue again.

Alex smirked. "Looks like Little Miss Mia doesn't like her alcohol."

Mia scoffed. "Not true." Just to spite him, she downed the glass, wincing as it burned her throat.

Alex's eyes were practically bugging out of his head. "I didn't mean you should do _that_. Shit, Mia, you know that's not good for you."

Mia would've retorted, but instead she fell silent as, just then, things were starting to swing around a bit in her vision.

Alex grasped her arms. "You okay?" he searched her eyes quickly and groaned, letting his head fall back before running a hand through his hair. "You're going to be _so _drunk in just a few minutes and then I'm going to have to run interference for you all night and I'm supposed to be watching Caitlin," he said, referring to his three year old sister.

Mia giggled. "Or you could just get drunk with me." She paused. "I think I rather like it."

Alex groaned and let his head fall back again. His eyes widened at something on the ceiling and Mia looked up once she heard his dreaded, "Oh, shit."

"Wh-what?" she asked, then saw what he'd noticed. Mistletoe. Claire had pushed him under the mistletoe – with her. That little devil meddling bitch. Mia kept telling Claire that nothing was going on between her and Alex, but Claire refused to believe her. This was Claire's way of making sure something happened. Well, shit.

Mia tried to take a step out from under the holiday garnish. No luck. It was the enchanted kind. Uncle George or Uncle Fred (or was he her cousin? She could never understand how familial relations were supposed to work or what everyone was technically called) had probably hung it for a laugh.

She looked up at Alex and shrugged. "We have to," she mumbled.

"You mumbled," Alex chuckled. "I have never heard you mumble before. Not even when your parents are yelling at you."

Mia could feel the tell-tale blush spreading across her cheeks. Oh, if only her mother hadn't been a Weasley.

"We'll just get it over with and then I'll drag you to the bathroom for the rest of the night to save your drunken ass from the rest of your family."

Mia barely noticed as Alex leaned down, but she noticed when his lips met hers. And when he didn't pull away lickety-split like he should've.

And then she noticed when she liked it. She liked kissing her best friend. Liked kissing Alex Carmichael.

And then she noticed when their lips started moving. And when Alex's hand reached up to tangle in the hair at the back of her neck. And when she wrapped her arms around his neck.

When Alex backed her into the wall at the top of the stairs in the hallway across from the bathroom.

When she, barely conscious of her own actions at this point, opened her mouth and Alex's tongue gently pushed in.

And Jesus, oh dear God and Merlin, then she felt it change. It wasn't sweet any longer, oh no. It was harsh and skilled and filled with too much lust for her fourteen-year-old body to handle.

"Mia!"

Alex reared back from Mia, away from her body and practically all the way across the landing.

"Mia! Get down here!" Scorpius called up the stairs. Mia thanked Merlin they were on the second landing and her father couldn't see what was going on. "Nate got sick; we've got to go home."

"Hermia Jane get your ass down here!" Now Mia could hear her mother's slightly distorted voice, she suspected it was the alcohol, calling up the stairs in her 'frustrated voice': the voice Rose attained whenever she was incredibly stressed or frazzled. She would lash out at everyone and then apologize the next day when she realized what she'd done.

"Rose, that is no way to talk to your daughter!"

"Don't use that kind of language, Rose; I am still your mother!"

Mia could hear her mum's barely audible, "Oh, fuck off." She giggled.

Alex chuckled, too, and Mia remembered he was there.

He was rubbing the back of his neck and looking anywhere but at his best friend across the landing. His lips were swollen and Mia couldn't help but feel a little proud that it'd been her lips that had done that.

She was pretty sure Alex was thinking the same thing, because a slight grin crossed his face fleetingly when she caught him looking at her lips.

"I've got to go," Mia whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow." She slipped passed Alex to the landing, but Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug, gently kissing her cheek.

Mia's cheeks burned the rest of vacation, whenever she thought about the kiss she'd shared with her best friend. She was pretty sure she'd never look at Alex the same way again.

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**Review, please!**


	8. 4th year, February

_4th year, February_

"You are such a pig," Mia said to Patrick in disgust. Most of the Gryffindor common room turned to look at them at the sound of Mia's voice, then returned to their own conversations upon realizing it was just some fourth year friends fighting again.

"What?" he cried defensively, not bothering to look at Mia and tear his eyes away from Gina Conti's retreating form.

"You're just staring at her like she's a piece of meat or something," Mia said.

Patrick looked to Alex for support, but Alex just shook his head and returned to his essay.

"She's a fairly pretty piece o' meat, then," Patrick grinned unabashedly. "I'm thinkin' it's time t'be a carnivore."

Mia hit him upside the head.

"Ouch, what the hell was that for?"

"You can't just objectify girls like that."

"Everyone else does it!"

"So if everyone else decided to jump off a bridge, you would, too?" Alex said.

"I dunno, how high's the bridge?" Patrick snapped.

"You sound like your mother!" Mia exclaimed, horrified, at Alex.

Alex scoffed. "Not like your parents, of course. Too immature to do anything responsible."

Mia stared at him, dumbfounded, before she slammed out of her chair and stormed out through the portrait hole.

Alex dropped his head into his hands and pinched the bridge of his nose. _Shit. _This was happening all the time, now. They'd somehow start fighting even though it wouldn't make any sense for the fight that had originally been taking place.

Patrick chuckled. "You're doin' a really bad job o' winnin' her over."

Alex glared at him. "You're not exactly helping."

Patrick shrugged. "You're the one who says the exact wrong thing every time you open your mouth. What is this? Valentine's Day hormones?" he teased. "I thought you would've gotten over your nerves after your 'Christmas Kiss'." Patrick waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up," Alex grumbled. He looked back at his essay. He was so bad at this. All he did was fight with Mia lately. Especially now. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was sure that the excess of hearts and boxes of chocolates everywhere spurred it on a bit.

He kept thinking of the mistletoe on Christmas that he and Mia had gotten stuck under. And how that kiss under the mistletoe had been anything _but _friendly. It kept popping up at random times: during class, studying, at the Quidditch pitch, in his dreams, in the shower... Everywhere. And it was driving him insane.

"Erm, Alex?"

A soft voice caught Alex's attention and he turned to see Cassie, Mia's sister, standing near him.

"Hey, Cass," he smiled.

She smiled shyly and tucked a blonde curl behind her ear.

Alex felt it before he heard it. Patrick's lovestruck gasp. And then came Cassie's widened eyes when she saw Patrick. "H-hey, Patrick," she mumbled, staring back down at her feet before turning to Alex again.

"I couldn't help overhearing," she started and Alex wanted to groan, "that you and Mia are having a few troubles." She sat down in the seat her sister had just vacated. "You know, you might just want to tell her. Or just kiss her."

Alex's eyes widened. "W-what?" he choked.

"Please," she rolled her eyes, "like you don't want to."

Patrick grinned. "I like this girl more every day," he gestured to Cassie.

Cassie blushed. "But really," she said earnestly, "you're her knight in shining armor and if you stop blundering around, she'll be your fair maiden!"

Patrick snorted. "I'll be your knight in shining armor," he muttered, his eyes flickering unwillingly towards Cassie. Alex got the feeling that his friend wasn't kidding as much as he tried to make it appear that way.

"Alex, just think before you speak," Cassie said. "She's your best friend, has been since you two were four. You know her. Which means you know what buttons to push," she narrowed her eyes and Alex squirmed, "and you push them too much because she infuriates you."

Alex opened his mouth to object, but nothing came out.

A superior look came over Cassie's face. "I know, I know, you infuriate her, too, you're still best friends, whatever. Wait 'til Kate gets up here next year; she won't tell you any of this with class, like I just did. She'll yell and scold you."

Patrick chuckled. "I swear, Cassie, darlin', your whole family is a force o' nature."

Cassie's cheeks turned bright red. "T-thanks." She turned to Alex and patted him on the head. "It'll work out eventually," she said before she walked away.

Alex turned to Patrick and nearly growled. "You look at Gina Conti like that,_ not_ at Cassie Malfoy. She's barely thirteen years old, for Merlin's sake."

Patrick's head whipped back to Alex, away from where Cassie sat, giggling and laughing with her friends on the other side of the common room. His eyes were wide and too innocent. "What on earth are you talkin' about, Carmichael? I ain't doin' nothin' o' the sort."

Alex narrowed his eyes. "Be sure you don't."

"Jesus it's like you're her older brother," Patrick muttered. "_Brother-in-law_," he added snottily.

Alex pretended not to hear.

But Cassie was right: he kept blundering. It was like his tongue was tripping over itself. Every time he saw Mia now, he didn't remember the little girl who had pushed his face into piles of mud and wrestled with him in the backyard, anymore. He saw the little girl who had kissed him when they were four, the not-so-little girl who had given him the best snog of his life under the mistletoe two months ago. She looked nothing like a little girl, anymore.

It unnerved him. When had her freckles become cute, rather than chicken pox? And when had he gotten taller than her? He was just tall enough that when he looked at Mia, he saw right down her –

Alex gulped and steered his mind away from such directions. Scorpius would murder him for it.

"Why don't you send her a Valentine?" Patrick's voice cut through Alex's murky thoughts.

"You're kidding me, right? Not only will she think it's a joke, it won't change anything."

Patrick shrugged. "You'll never know if you don't try."

Alex looked up to see Mia climb back through the portrait hole and stop to talk to Joseph Corner. She smiled and laughed, flicked her hair over one shoulder; Alex's stomach curled and his fingers clenched around his quill when she touched Corner's arm.

He'd just have to wait; she clearly didn't want to be with him.

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**Review, please! Thanks so much to all the people who take the time to review! Makes my day!**


	9. 5th year, June

_5th year, June_

_Damn, damn, damn_, Mia thought. She chewed on the end of her quill. How many Goblin revolutions were there in 1848? Did they affect the revolutions all over Europe that year, too? Mia could not remember. She wished, not for the first time, that she was closer to Alex's seat and could look over to his paper and copy the answer.

Needless to say, her History of Magic O.W.L. was not going well.

And there were only five minutes left.

Mia considered folding her paper into a paper airplane and sending it soaring through the Great Hall. It would be pretty, right? That could be an excuse.

She thought better of it once she'd done it. The tip of the airplane soared and instead of landing gracefully on someone's desk or at the foot of Professor Longbottom's muddy shoes, it smacked him in the face.

Mia tried not to, she really had, but she couldn't hold it in: she laughed.

Neville's face snapped up to where Mia Malfoy was in her seat, clutching at her stomach and laughing incredibly.

He rolled his eyes. She was worse than anyone in her family. She did it because she was bored, and Mia got bored way too easily for the comfort or sanity of the staff.

"Miss Malfoy," he commanded, looking down at the teenager attempting to stifle her giggles, "please leave the hall. Fifty points from Gryffindor."

That sobered her up.

_Shit_, Mia thought as she gathered her belongings. She'd already lost three hundred points for Gryffindor over the course of the year. There was no way they were going to win the House Cup, now.

Alex sent her a disapproving look, but Mia knew it was an attempt to hide his own laughter by the crinkles at the corners of his eyes. Patrick just smirked at her and twirled his quill.

Mia slumped outside the Great Hall up against the wall once the double doors closed behind her.

Patrick and Alex came tearing out only a few minutes later.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Patrick exclaimed. "Longbottom's face! Oh, you know he loves you; he's just tired from all you do," he amended once he saw the look on Mia's face.

"Patrick!"

Patrick's head whipped towards the voice, belonging to Mia's sister Cassie, while Mia just rolled her eyes. She looked away, over towards Alex, who grimaced in sympathy, when Cassie came over and kissed Patrick. Smack on the lips.

"Gross," Mia said.

"You know you're secretly happy with it," Cassie smiled.

Mia did know. She _was_ happy with it. She couldn't not be happy with something that put such a blissful look in Cassie's eyes and a jump in Patrick's step. Truth be told, the two were perfect for each other, too. But it was still her best friend dating her younger sister. It was weird. And Patrick was never allowed to talk about girls with her ever again.

The two of them waved good-bye and escaped to some broom closet, Mia expected, though she didn't really want to know.

"Eurgh," she said.

Alex laughed at her. "Get used to it."

"But…but…it's Cassie and Patrick!"

"And it's been going on a few months, now. It's around time to get over it. Even Kate has."

"I'm over it," Mia protested, grabbing Alex's hand and pulling him outside, down to the lake. "I just don't want her to get hurt. And I know Patrick won't hurt her intentionally," she said, once she saw that Alex had every intention of protesting.

Alex plopped down on the grass, up against the tree he, Mia, and Patrick had commandeered their second week of first year.

"Mia, he's head over heels for her; he's not going to want to do anything that could mess this up."

"I know," Mia sighed and laid down on the grass, her head in Alex's lap. She picked up his hand and began playing with his fingers, intertwining her hand with his.

Alex desperately hoped she didn't notice his pulse racing. Did she?

He glanced down to see Mia staring up at him. "What?" he asked.

"What do you want to do?"

Alex cleared his throat. "Now?"

Mia shook his head, causing friction in Alex's lap and making him shift uncomfortably. Merlin, she had no idea what she was doing. Or did she? Did Alex spot that devilish glint in her eye? He looked down to check, but she was facing away from him.

"With your life," she said. "I mean, we just took our O.W.L.s., for goodness's sake. We only have two more years here. Then what?"

Alex shrugged. "I've got no idea, not really. I guess I'd like to work in Magical Law. Or maybe as an Obliviator. Memories fascinate me."

"I know." A pause. "Do you ever remember things about your dad?"

"Sometimes," Alex admitted. His hand reached down absently to twist a curl of Mia's hair. "Sometimes I'm just dreaming, though, and I don't know if I made it up or if it actually happened."

"You'll figure it out. Don't worry," she smiled.

Alex instantly felt better, as sappy as he knew that was. Mia had such a satisfying smile. It was a smile that encouraged, that showed she had complete faith in you, that she trusted you explicitly. Alex only trusted it because she didn't give everyone that smile. So far, it had been reserved for Alex, Patrick, and her family.

"What about you?" he asked. "What do you want to do?"

Mia gave a short, sarcastic laugh. "Like I have any idea what I want in my future. I'll end up working in the shop, probably. Hanging out with Uncle Fred."

"S'not such a bad place to be."

"I guess not. I'm just not sure it's what I want."

"What do you want?"

Was it just Mia, or had Alex's voice become a husky whisper?

She glanced up at him, startled to find his eyes a smoky, darker green than usual. "What?" she asked.

"What do you want?" he repeated, an eyebrow quirked at her odd behavior.

Had his lips always looked so gorgeous? Mia wondered.

It wasn't even a fully-grown, fully-formed thought in her head when she did it. She had no idea why she was so impulsive; Mia just assumed it was genetic.

But his lips tasted as good as they looked when she kissed him.

She pulled back and stared at him with wide eyes.

"What was that for?" he asked bemusedly.

"I-I," she stuttered.

"Hermia Jane Malfoy stuttering?" Alex teased. "What has this world come to?"

Mia laughed and smacked Alex on the arm, the awkwardness broken.

"Well, if you're not going to say anything, then I'm going to assume you'd like to kiss me again."

A wicked glint came into Alex's eyes as he spoke. It was a glint that Mia hadn't seen very recently, ever since Alex had become obsessed with finding all he could about his father in his memories during third year. He'd become quite a bit more serious since then. She missed the old him, but she didn't dislike the newer one, either.

She reached up and brushed his hair away from his face. "I've missed that glint in your eyes," she said, before she thought better of it.

"Why don't you make it come back, then?" Alex whispered, before putting his lips gently down upon hers once again.

Dear God, she was kissing Alex. Alex freaking Carmichael. Her best friend. The one she'd played healer with when she'd been little. The one who knew her so well he could write a book on her that would reveal more than her autobiography.

And she liked kissing him. And he was definitely the best kisser she'd ever encountered.

Mia shifted. She started to sit up, never breaking the kiss, and straddled Alex.

His gasp of surprised escaped his mouth and Mia smirked.

Alex's arms snaked around Mia's body and held her hips. "Not fair," he muttered.

Mia just smirked again and pried his lips open with her own, her tongue seeking for his.

Oh dear lord, why hadn't she done this sooner?

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**Review, please - as always! This will most likely be the last update for awhile. I'm going on vacation and probably won't be able to update until September, or so. I'll do my best, but don't count on it. In the meantime, review!**


	10. 6th year, Easter Break

**Sorry for the awfully long wait! But I'm back and I will actually be updating, now. Promise!**

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_6th year, Easter Break_

Oh, dear Merlin, she couldn't believe she was doing this. This was specifically what Claire had told her not to do when Mia had ranted to her in a letter a few weeks ago.

Mia was straddling Alex. On her bed in her room (Cassie and Kate were at the Thomas's), over the Easter holidays of her sixth year.

They'd been talking. That'd been all. That's it. They were tentatively a couple – had been since end of fifth year. But at the same time, they weren't really. They were best friends who occasionally hooked up, without hooking up with anyone else.

But this wasn't hooking up. This seemed much too serious for that.

Because Alex was lifting her shirt over her head. And she'd already flung his shirt to the other side of the room. Hers shortly joined it on the floor.

"What?" she asked, breathless, when he stopped kissing her and just stared at her.

Alex grinned and shook his head slightly. "You're beautiful."

Mia laughed. "I bet you say that to all the girls."

"Just you."

And then his lips were back on hers. Taunting, teasing, seducing.

His fingertips ran over her skin, light, teasing caresses that left goosebumps in their wake.

She felt his lips curve into a smile against her own when she moaned.

She kissed down his chest, down to his belt buckle. The same belt buckle she then undid.

Mia gently pulled his jeans down and off, barely realizing where their actions were headed.

All she could feel was the lust coursing through her veins. The desire, the want, the primal need she had for Alex, to feel him against her and inside her, right then.

She couldn't think of anything else. She couldn't think, she could only feel.

Alex's hands skimmed over her. Mia arched her back to accommodate him, barely realizing that she was shoving her breasts in his face.

He didn't seem to mind.

He fingered the bra strap falling down from her shoulder, before pulling the other one away from her shoulder as well.

Their mouths never separated.

Until, just as Alex had finished struggling with the clasp of her bra and had flung it across the room, the door burst open and Rose's voice could be heard, exclaiming a horrified, "Mia!"

Mia jerked back off of Alex, tumbling off the bed and onto the floor. She scrambled to find some semblance of clothing to cover herself with.

"Oh, fuck."

_Shit_, Mia thought as she heard her dad's voice: Scorpius had just joined Rose at the doorway. Her mum was still gaping.

Scorpius looked stunned and furious at the same time. Mia assumed he was wondering how he was going to yell at the boy who used to have accidents on his bathroom floor before he was fully potty trained.

But, oh, she knew the yelling was coming. It had to be. Alex was sitting on her bed, clad only in his boxers, with impressive lovebites beginning to bruise on his neck and chest, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand and looking anywhere but at anyone else. The problem in his pants was just a bit too obvious for Mia's current sanity. Her parents were bound to notice that.

And then, of course, she had no shirt on – noticeable as her shirt was tossed on the ground, even though she was hidden behind the bed, all except for her head. And her bra was at her parents' feet. Shit.

"Downstairs, three minutes," Scorpius growled murderously, shooting daggers at Alex, and then Mia.

She cowered under her father's gaze.

She'd never done well hiding things from her parents. Had never done well lying to them, either; none of them ever had. She, Cassie, Kate, and Nate were all terrible at lying to Scorpius and Rose. Scorpius and Rose could see through everything. Some parents said that they'd done it all and so knew exactly what their kids were doing; Rose and Scorpius actually _had _done it all.

None of their kids would ever be able to get away with anything.

Scorpius left and Rose closed the door behind them.

Mia and Alex sat for an awkward two minutes in silence.

"I'm sorry," she finally said. "I didn't know they'd be home so soon. They were supposed to be gone until late tonight."

Alex shook his head and ran a hand over his face. "S'not your fault. We should've thought before acting."

Mia smirked. "Like we've ever done that." She frowned. "Well, you have, lately, I guess."

Alex shrugged and got up off the bed, retrieving his shirt and pulling his jeans up over his hips. "Look on the bright side; this probably would've happened eventually."

Mia grabbed her bra from by the door and snapped it back on, dragging a clean shirt from the dresser over her head. She checked in the mirror over the dresser to make sure she looked relatively presentable, not like she'd just been about to shag her best friend. She looked fine except for her swollen lips and messy hair, but there really wasn't anything she could do about that in the few minutes she had to get downstairs.

"What would've happened?" she asked, moving over towards where Alex sat on the bottom bunk of the bunk beds Cassie and Kate shared – Cassie's bed. "Us shagging each other or my parents walking in on us doing something?"

"Both, I guess."

Mia was silent for a moment.

"Patrick's going to take the mickey for years," Alex remarked.

"There won't be anything to take the mickey of if you two don't get down here in five seconds!" Rose shouted up the stairs.

"Merlin that woman has good hearing," Mia muttered.

"I heard that!"

The following hour, Mia and Alex sat on the couch as Rose and Scorpius alternated between pacing, yelling at them, lecturing, and beginning statements with, "I was giving birth to you just a year and a few months older than you are now…"

Mia liked to pretend that her parents had never had sex and that she wasn't the product of a teenage pregnancy. It seemed like her parents didn't want to honor her system.

She cringed. Continuously. Throughout the whole discussion. Especially when Cassie and Kate walked in, noticed what was going on, and laughed hysterically while Kate mimed 'fucking' behind Rose's and Scorpius's backs.

Kate was a freaking second year. She wasn't supposed to know that stuff!

Mia pretended that thought wasn't hypocritical.

But Cassie shouldn't know it even more so! Cassie was a sweet, innocent, little Aryan-poster child (though the gray eyes did deter that a bit). She and Patrick weren't supposed to do anything remotely like what Alex and Mia had just been caught doing.

Mia cringed. Dear Merlin she never wanted to know what her best friend and little sister got up to.

"Hermia Jane, are you listening?!" Scorpius roared.

Mia's head jerked up to see her dad's face an unnatural pink color with a vein bulging in his neck. Shit. He was really, really pissed.

Rose had her arms crossed, standing slightly behind her husband. They kept switching back and forth between who was doing the talking. One would step up, the other would step back. Apparently it was Scorpius's turn.

Mia already knew that on the 'Angry Scale', her parents were both at a ten. This was one of those problems of having two irrational parents. Opposites really hadn't attracted very much in the case of Mia's parents.

Mia only looked up at the end of her parents' rants. Her ears were burning and she was sure the back of her neck was, too. She hadn't chanced a glance at Alex throughout the whole tirade.

She just kept hearing her parents say things like, "These are the contraceptive charms…", "You know who shouldn't enter into a physical relationship with someone unless you're ready…", "When I was your age…", and "I'm so disappointed in you…"

Mia knew she shouldn't have asked her question. She had this problem where she said things out of spite, especially when she felt the need to become defensive. She was pretty sure it was hereditary. She looked at her mum and snapped, "Oh yeah, when did you lose your virginity, then?"

Rose blanched. Completely. She looked like she was about to faint.

Scorpius grabbed his wife and told Mia and Alex to, "Get the fuck out of here."

They hadn't needed telling twice.

That was when the tirade ended. But Mia and Alex sat on the stairs. She'd had to convince Alex; he felt a little bad about eavesdropping on her parents, but his curious nature took over.

Her dad kept telling her mum, repeating, again and again, "It's over. He's gone. He's not coming back. You're fine. You're safe. I'm here. Remember? You're thirty-four, not fifteen. You're okay. He's gone. In Azkaban."

Mia had looked over and stared with wide eyes at Alex, her own expression reflected back at her.

As much as Mia wanted to say that she was thinking about her mum and whatever secret she had, because they never lied to each other and Mia was concerned, she was thinking even more about just how much she wanted Alex back in her bed.

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	11. 7th year, August 31

_7th year, August 31st_

Cassie walked into the bedroom she shared with her sisters and flopped down on Mia's bed with a loud sigh.

Mia looked at her sister, lying all over the clothes she was attempting to pack into her trunk, with only fourteen hours until the train to Hogwarts left.

"Having problems?" she asked mildly. She attempted to pull one of the uniform shirts out from under Cassie's knee.

Cassie frowned and played with a blonde curl. She looked up at her big sister. "Is Patrick going to break up with me?" she asked quietly.

Kate perked up from where she was reading on her bed. "What are you talking about?" she asked, dumbfounded. "The boy's completely in love with you."

Cassie pouted slightly. "But I'm a fifth year. And he's graduating."

"So?" Kate asked again, closing her book and setting it down next to her pillow. She climbed down the ladder from the bunk bed and sat down next to Cassie on Mia's bed.

Mia nearly groaned. Kate had just sat down on all of her bras. She hated when they got crushed, something her sister's tiny ass was doing very nicely.

Mia glanced around the room, wondering if she could use something to push her sisters off the bed. Nothing, but they really needed to pick up the clothes and makeup and everything else under the sun that was scattered on the floor. She wondered if her parents would make them clean it up before they left.

Or she'd just clean it up so they didn't find anything incriminating, though they'd probably know about whatever they'd find.

"Cass, he's not going to break up with you," Mia said. She shoved Cassie onto her side to pull clothing out from under her. She ignored Cassie's cry of "Ow!"

"But how do you know?"

"Are you whining or asking?" Mia rolled her eyes.

She looked up in time to see Kate mouthing, "Be nice."

Of course Kate could say that; Cassie may have been the sweetest, but she was also quiet. Kate was the one everyone loved. And when Mia said everyone, she meant _everyone_. The entire school, entire family, hell, the entire _world_ loved her.

Mia could see why, too; she loved her baby sister. Kate was funny, generally a happy person, smart, and she was passionate. It was always entertaining to see her fight with someone; she could wipe the floor with them in a matter of seconds, but they always deserved it. She was like the perfect person; except for the fact that she sometimes went a little too far with everything she did. But that could be overlooked.

Mia saw Cassie's pout: the signal of her refusal to answer the question.

"Come on, Cass, you know I don't mean it like that." Mia took a breath and folded her clothes into her trunk. It was going to be her last year at Hogwarts, she was going to graduate and move out and be completely done with school. Packing her trunk like this felt surreal.

"Patrick's not going to break up with you," Kate added, reaching for a magazine on the stack Mia was attempting to pack.

Mia willed her patience not to break. She turned to Cassie. "Kate's right, as much as it pains me to admit. Patrick's so in love with you, I die a little inside from over-sugary-ness every time he looks at you."

"That's not a word," Cassie said.

"Does it really matter?"

"I guess not."

"Look, Cassie," Mia sat down on the bed and pulled her sister's head into her lap, stroking her hair, something Cassie had always liked as a little girl and something that continued to calm her down. "Patrick is not going to break up with you just because he's graduating. He loves you way too much for that. He cares too much about you. He'd wait the two years it took for you to graduate, Cass."

"Seriously, Cassie," Kate added, "if anyone is as in love with you as Seamus is, it'd be like Alex is with Mia."

That was another problem with Kate, Mia thought: she was far too observant. But Mia was going to deny that if ever asked.

Instead of commenting, Mia just rolled her eyes again, and turned the subject of conversation away from Patrick. "Kate, did you and Marissa ever make up?"

Kate's face turned to a glower. "No," she tossed her hair over one shoulder as she gave a haughty pout. "She kissed Cameron when I was going out with him. Not okay."

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry," Cassie patted Kate's shoulder gently. "Maybe Cameron's just not worth it."

"I know he's not worth it. But she was supposed to be my best friend and instead she just goes and kisses my boyfriend behind my back."

"Did Marissa actually kiss him back or anything?" Mia asked. "I mean, people get kissed all the time and are just too surprised to do anything and don't mean to kiss them. Or maybe he thought it was you kissing him."

Kate raised her eyebrows. "Yes, ginger, freckled me and Marissa with brown hair and three inches on me. We seem so alike."

Cassie smoothed her hand over Kate's hair. "I'm sorry, sweetie. Look for someone else to move on to. Cameron obviously isn't worth the trouble."

Kate huffed out a breath and a curl flew up around her face from the air she let out. Her fingers scrunched on the blanket and Mia could see the ring their parents had given her for her twelfth birthday on her finger. They'd each gotten a ring on their twelfth birthday, their birthstones. Kate's was a ruby red for July. Mia it was symbolic for the amount of fire Kate brought into her arguments.

"What about Grant?" Mia asked.

Kate's face twisted into a scowl. "Merlin, he's obnoxious," she said automatically. Then she paused and turned to her older sister. "What _about_ Grant?"

"You two just seem to click," Cassie said.

"We're always _arguing_. I don't know what world you live in, but in mine, that's not clicking. That's anti-clicking."

Mia smiled to herself. She'd already bet Alex and Patrick ten sickles that Kate and Mike Grant would get together before Kate's fourth year. They had too much passion in their arguments. They'd probably get together then, and maybe even stay together.

"Anyways," Kate said, defecting to Cassie, "Patrick will not break up with you because he's graduating. I promise."

"I promise, too," Mia said. "And I'm the best friend who he confides in. I know."

"Whom," Cassie corrected her.

Mia rolled her eyes and escaped the room before the discussion could continue. She didn't really want to go back to school. She wasn't sure how to deal with Alex, anymore. Not after the last time she'd seen him.

He'd come over, like usual, to stay for awhile during the summer. Patrick hadn't been able to come this summer, though Mia wondered if her dad had said something so that his daughter's boyfriend couldn't stay under the same roof as his girlfriend. Highly hypocritical, but Mia wasn't going to comment unless she wanted to be banned from leaving her room the entire vacation.

He'd told her he loved her.

Mia slumped against the wall and slid to the floor, curling up on the carpeted hallway, just outside her bedroom door.

They'd been fooling around, so she didn't really believe Alex had meant it. She kept feeling guilty for it. They weren't actually going out, but he was still her best friend. She just liked to kiss him. A lot.

How was that going to change, now? It was Alex, so Mia could never think of him as that guy who'd just hook up with her because she was easy. He had enough integrity that he'd never do that to her. Maybe to someone else, but never her.

And she kept getting a fluttery feeling in her stomach whenever she thought of her best friend. Not a sort of lustful fluttering; it was like butterflies, an antsy anticipation of seeing him again, of being near him, of touching him. She was beginning to wonder if she liked him a little more than she should if she thought of him only as her best friend.

But she wasn't going to chance any of that. She couldn't like him. It'd be weird. At the same time...it was she and Alex. Mia Malfoy and Alex Carmichael, the daring duo since nappies. What could be more right than that?

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**Sorry for the horrendously late update! I will be better in updating more often, really! Please review!**


	12. 7th year, November 27

**Dear God I am so sorry for my lack of updating...my bad. Eventually I'll get to the whole writing thing again. Maybe. Working on it.**

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Mia's eyes slowly fluttered open as the sunbeams hit her eyelids.

She groaned and rolled over to block the sun, barely conscious. She hit something.

Her eyes flashed open. What the fuck...?

She registered the sandy hair, the thick eyelashes, the long, thin scar running diagonally across his cheek. Alex.

And she was naked. _They _were naked.

In Alex's bed in the seventh year Gryffindor boys' dormitory.

Holy fuck.

She screamed. Then clapped a hand over her mouth. She could've woken up Patrick. But by the looks of things, Patrick wasn't in his bed, either.

Alex was shifting around next to her. He sat up and yawned, rubbing a hand through his hair and shaking his head. He rubbed his fists in his eyes, making himself look like a small child.

Mia didn't move. She couldn't. It felt like lead was fused into her extremities. She watched, frozen, as Alex turned and looked down at her. She watched as his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, as he took in their surroundings, her mussy hair, the love bites on her neck and chest and his.

"So, we drink a little too much last night?" Alex weakly attempted a joke.

Mia closed her eyes and tried to let her body relax. She couldn't let herself go off on a tearing rampage. She had to learn not to be so impulsive. She had to. But she couldn't. She couldn't, she couldn't, she couldn't.

She couldn't yell at him, so instead she tore out of the bed, pulled one of Alex's uniform oxford shirts on and sprinted out of the room, ignoring Alex's cry of "Mia!"

She raced through the castle, her bare feet slapping the cold stones. She ran all the way down to the Black Lake, abandoned in the half-gray light of early morning. There, Mia collapsed underneath a tree on the far bank, out of sight from most everyone.

Mia dropped her head into her hands and forced herself to take calming breaths. Oh God, oh Merlin, she'd slept with Alex. She'd had sex with Alex. Sure, they'd been fooling around since the end of fifth year, but they'd never actually slept together.

She'd been a virgin until last night. And she could barely remember losing her virginity. After all, Gryffindor had won the Quidditch game and there'd been a big party with lots of alcohol. She'd supplied it, too. Just as much of a troublemaker as she could be, corrupting the kids who hadn't yet been corrupted.

And how hypocritical of her it was that she'd never been completely corrupted, herself, until last night. She wasn't innocent in any sense of the word, now, and her last bit of innocence had vanished only a few hours ago.

Mia could remember drinking the firewhiskey, kissing Alex, letting him pull her upstairs, tumbling onto his bed. She could remember it all, though a bit fuzzily. That wasn't how she'd wanted it to go, how she'd wanted to lose her virginity. It was one of those things that she'd known, had a clear picture of, since she'd found out her parents had had her as teenagers. She'd never wanted that to happen to her. She'd wanted to be in a relationship, in love with the guy, out of Hogwarts, even.

But it was arguable that she was in love with Alex. Alex, who she could see jogging down the path to where she was, holding a pile of her clothing and now dressed, himself. He'd come to bring clothes to her because of the cold outside. He'd come because he knew they had to talk now or she'd hold a grudge for the rest of her life. Because even if she didn't want to see the guy she'd had sex with last night, she wanted her best friend.

He slowed down when he spotted her, knowing that she always went to the same spot when she was upset. He walked over and dropped down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

She looked up at him and studied his face. He looked so different. He had no baby fat, now. His facial features were chiseled, strong, contoured. He had stubble on his jawline and his shoulders were broad. He'd filled out. He was no longer scrawny and Mia loved to run her hands all over him when they were kissing. And apparently, when they were doing more than kissing.

The hand that wasn't attached to the arm wrapped around her shoulder came up to brush hair away from her face. But as much of a best friend he was, as well as he knew her, he couldn't stop the tears from coming.

He did his best to comfort her, pulling her into a hug and rocking her back and forth.

When her tears finally stopped, all he said was, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Mia sniffled. "Though I'm apologizing for getting snot all over your shirt and bolting out of the room. Not sure what you're sorry for."

Alex shrugged. "We slept together. I feel kind of responsible."

"Takes two to tango."

Mia sighed and rested her head on Alex's chest.

"I know you never wanted it to happen that way," Alex said. "That's what I'm sorry for. That I took that away from you."

"I'll get over it."

"I might not," Alex admitted. "I always wanted you to be my first. I just kept thinking how right it felt, how good it was to be kissing you."

"Then how come you don't just ask me out?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Well, she'd already started, so she might as well finish. "Why do we keep hooking up, fucking _sleep _with each other, if there is nothing between us? Do you just not like me? Is that it?"

"Mia, _no_," Alex said, flabbergasted. "Of course not."

"Then why do you do this?" she begged. She hated the sound of her voice, but she was too upset, too frustrated, too completely sick of all of this, to actually get mad at Alex. "Am I just easy to you? Just conveniently there?"

"Mia, stop it." Alex's voice was deadly and low, the lethal combination that made Mia's mouth close immediately. When that voice came out, and it so rarely did, you knew it was time to shut up. "Of course I like you. I wouldn't do anything with you if I didn't. I told you last night, I love you."

Mia stared at him. "What did you just say?"

"I love you. I. Love. You. Get it now?"

Mia felt like her eyes were bugging out of her head. "Wha-?"

Alex laughed deliriously, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. It was a laugh of freedom. "I love you, okay? I have loved you since fourth year, and I'm pretty damn sure I'm always going to love you."

Mia stared before she whispered, "I love you, too."

"Good. So is this where I ask you to be my girlfriend?"

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**Review, please? [begs]**


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